Ram Navami

Rama Navami
Rama with Sita, Lakshman and Hanuman in a home shrine at Rama Navami
Also called	Ramnavami
Observed by	Vaishnava Hindus, India, Nepal
Type	Hindu
Significance	Birthday of Rama
Celebrations	last day of Chaitra Navratri
Observances	Puja, vrata (fast), katha recitation
Date	Ninth day of Chaitra (Chaitra Shukla Paksha Navami)
2017 date	Wed, 5 April
2018 date	Sun, 25 March
2019 date	Sun, 14 April
Frequency	annual

Rama Navami (Devanāgarī: राम नवमी; IAST: Rāma navamī) is a spring Hindu festival that celebrates the birthday of god Rama. He is particularly important to the Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism, as the seventh avatar of Vishnu. The festival is a part of the spring Navratri, and falls on the ninth day of the bright half (Shukla Paksha) in the Hindu calendar month of Chaitra. This typically occurs in the Gregorian months of March or April every year. Rama Navami is a relatively minor festival of Hinduism and not a national holiday, but an optional restricted holiday in India.

The day is marked by Rama Katha recitals, or reading of Rama legendary stories. Some Vaishnava Hindus visit a temple, others pray within their home, and some participate in a bhajan or kirtan with music as a part of puja and aarti. Some devotees mark the event by taking miniature statues of the infant Rama, washing it and clothing it, then placing it in a cradle. Charitable events and community meals are also organized. The festival is an occasion for moral reflection for many Hindus. Some mark this day by vrata (fasting).

The important celebrations on this day take place at Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh) Sita Samahit Sthal (Sitamarhi) (Bihar), Janakpurdham (Nepal), Bhadrachalam (Telangana), Kodandarama Temple, Vontimitta (Andhra Pradesh) and Rameswaram (Tamil Nadu). Rathayatras, the chariot processions, also known as Shobha yatras of Rama, Sita, his brother Lakshmana and Hanuman, are taken out at several places. In Ayodhya, many take a dip in the sacred river Sarayu and then visit the Rama temple.